The Butcher (Diablo III)

"The truth about the Butcher demon was more startling than I ever anticipated. Evidently, there are many of them within the Burning Hells, though they used to be solely under Diablo's command. The butchers are stitched together from the parts of other demons to combine their strengths, then given life through wicked magic."

Contents

Biography

Though closely modeled after the original Butcher, this incarnation is not exactly the same demon. According to an entry in Deckard Cain's journal, Butcher demons are sewn together from different demons to incorporate their various strengths into one single entity.

The Diablo III Butcher bears the appearance of a gigantic, overweight humanoid demon, whose red and purple skin is covered in atrocious scars and stitches. His head and feet are quite small compared to the rest of his bulky body. He wears a bloody apron and chains around his wrist and waist.

In-game

The Butcher, Flesh Carver serves as an Act Boss in the first Act of Diablo III. Much like its Diablo I counterpart, the Butcher opens the fight with the famous line "Fresh meat!". He features very aggressive behavior during the fight, combining rage timers, charges, and dragging players out of reach back to him. He will stomp the ground and charge at the walls, regardless of the flaming tiles.

The Butcher appears in the Chamber of Suffering in Quest 9 of Act I. Upon defeating him, the player gains access to the room where the Stranger is kept imprisoned by more zealots. Being an act boss, slaughter of the Butcher is necessary for continuation of the storyline.

The combat starts immediately as the player enters the Chamber of Suffering. After a short cutscene, the Butcher is unleashed. The layout of the room is an octangular arena with two Health Pools (upper left and upper right corners). Room is divided into segments, each of them counts as a separate Fire Grate (see below).

Attacks

Quick Smash: The Butcher will swing his weaponry at a nearby hero, dealing low damage on a successful hit.

Heavy Smash: The Butcher impatiently jumps two times (to allow visually predicting this move and give the player time to retreat) and slams his axe into the ground, dealing heavy damage to everything in a short cone before him. Running away to his side (not directly away from him!) is advised.

Ancient Spear: This functions much like the skill of the same name accessible to the Barbarian did prior to the pre-expansion patch, with the only difference being that the Butcher will always use a multitude of them instead of just one, effectively hitting a broad cone in front of him.

Charge: The Butcher will highlight a straight line, and then charge in that direction. While highlighting, a repulsion occurs. Should either of these hit a hero, they will suffer high damage and Knockback. In addition, should the charge kill someone, all that will remain is a bloodied skeleton of themselves.

Sickle Grab: The Butcher will use his sickle to grab a distant hero and pull it into melee range. This momentarily stuns the hero grabbed. While stunned, the Butcher will ready his axe to use the Heavy Smash attack. Before using the sickle, the Butcher aims for the moment, so run to either left or right (not away!) from the estimated sickle trajectory.

Fire Grates: While fighting the Butcher, the fire grates will begin activating, causing average Fire damage over time to those foolish enough to stand still over them. As the fight drags on, more and more of these grates will activate, leaving little breathing room. Before activation, each grate is highlighted, showing the player that it is the moment to move aside. Remember that sections with Health Pools can ignite too.

Enrage Timer: On Torment difficulty, the Butcher has a hard enrage timer of 3 minutes. After that time, all fire grates will activate at once and stay that way until the end of the combat.